Sewaholic Thurlow Trousers DONE!

This post is dedicated to gwensews, one of my biggest sewing cheerleaders.  I'd like to think that last Wednesday night, when I was so worried about cutting my pants on grain that I forgot all about nap, that Gwen was there telling me to turn the fabric around so that I actually cut out my cords with the nap.  Miss you Gwen!

You know that feeling, when relief floods your whole body?  That is what I'm feeling right now!  I'm just 6 work meetings, one meditation session, one therapeutic massage and one packing session away from the ASE.

The Sewaholic Thurlow trousers are DONE!

I had no idea that it was Scary September, but I unknowingly joined BeaJay in pledging to sew something that scared me--to make my first pair of trousers!    So woot to that!

Also a HUGE shout out to Angela Wolf who helped me fit these in her PR online class, Altering Pants. I'm going to see Angela at the ASE and can't wait to hear what she says. We went through many muslin iterations online.  Thanks Angela!

And another HUGE shout out to Lauren of Lladybird for her Thurlow Sewalong instructions. The pix nicely supplemented the Sewaholic instructions--I really appreciated it!


It was 40F this morning which made for a fast photo shoot.
I wore them to work (it eventually warmed to 74F but was still fine in my chilly office).
General consensus at work is that they look "too big" especially in the thigh (with one of the cutest comments being that "Kyle is a person who thinks she is bigger than she is.")  I'm going to taper the side seams in and see if that makes a difference.  However, right now they are PERFECT for sitting down.

I'm not a fan of the jagged lines at the inseam, where you can see the back from the front, but they look better than they did in the muslin, that's for sure.  Dark fabric is your friend!

I was also surprised that you can see the back pocket bags from the outside--I mean the bottom edge of the back pocket bags.





These are my first pair of trousers ever (and only my third pair of pants with a fly front zipper).  I think I'm kind of hooked on making pants now.  Or maybe I'm just a moth attracted to a flame.  Gertie's pants?  Simplicity Amazing Fit pants?  Sandra Betzina's Craftsy pants?  Bring 'em on!

I wound up wearing them to work with this top, which one of my coworkers said made me look French.

I'm calling these my NYC pants.  Why?  The exterior is a midnight blue stretch Alice + Olivia corduroy from Mood that I bought with velosewer back in June during her NYC excursion.  I dithered over buying it but then went for it.  I felt there was little chance I'd find it again in Mood's vast corduroy selection during MPB Day.

The interior is a quilting cotton from The City Quilter in NYC that I first spied with Antoinette during her May NYC excursion. It's the NYC subway map!!


I love how fun the quilting cotton makes these pants!

They make me smile!

A big shout out to my Brother Project Runway machine, which makes AMAZING buttonholes. Unplug the foot pedal, press a button, and it sews the buttonhole in ONE SHOT, flawlessly and quickly. Where have you been all my life???  I used fray check on it before slicing it open with an exacto knife.  Gorgeous buttonhole!
Mom says she doubts she'd ever be able to top that Christmas gift.




Other sewing bloggers have said that the fly extention is too wide. I had no idea what they are talking about before but now that I've sewn them up, they are right!  Like others have said, cut about 5/8" off the fly extentsion and you'll be fine. Luckily I had cut the right waistband extra long so I switched the left and right waistband (learned that in Jennifer Stern's jeans class--cut the waistband extra long and then cut off what you don't need after you've sewn them on. But the left waistband looked so long that I didn't cut it longer--should have!).  Anyhoo, that is why the pointy end is now on top and on the right instead of underneath and on the left.


I wore them with my red clown shoes.  Love those shoes.

Here's your oops shot of the day:

More pix are in this loving album.
Relieved. Relieved, I tell you. Phew!
Be well!